Hello my lovely readers and happy Monday! I hope you all are doing well. My life is pretty boring these days, and consists mainly of work and school, more work and more school which sadly means that I haven't been able to keep up with blogging as I had hoped I would have this summer.
However, the orders have been coming in steadily over the past few months and I wanted to share with you some of the highlights of these orders. I brought a list of some of my new favorites from my recent wax orders into work today to type out during my down time. Unfortunately, there won't be any pictures today but my blog was looking pretty lonely these days so I figured anything new would be better than staring at the same old video that has been up for a few weeks!
I have found my wax preferences shifting significantly lately. While I am still loving the fruity scents that I couldn't get enough of this spring, I find myself now reaching more for deep and rich bakery scents over my lighter scents. Usually I'm one season ahead in terms of my scent preferences though I don't seem to want to melt my spicy fall scents quite yet. But anything caramel, chocolate, cake or cookie scented? Sign this girl up! The shocker among all shockers these days seems to be the fact that I'm actually tolerating bread scents much more, and *gasp* even enjoying them! I'm really into Amish Friendship Bread and Ice Cream Scoop Bread scents, and yes, even the occasional Zucchini Bread scent. I still have a violent negative reaction to most ZB scents but I am tolerating the sweet and creamy ones quite well these days. I don't know what's gotten into me lately but I'm just going with the flow and stocking up on lots of bakery and bready scents.
And now, without any specific order, here are the highlights from my wax hauls over the past few months! I hope you all enjoy and maybe even find a new favorite amongst this mess of randomness!
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Sugar and Spice Gourmet Soy
Marshmallow Jelly Donuts - Sugar and Spice has quickly been climbing to the top of my favorite vendors list. Her stuff is always amazingly strong, for the most part her scents are awesome and since it is an RTS company the TAT is lightning fast. This was a scent that I originally got as a freebie in one of my orders and I loved it so much that I bought a 1 lb. bag of brittle in it during her last opening. It is your typical jelly donut scent that a lot of vendors carry, heavy on the berry jelly with a hint of a fried dough note. But with the addition of marshmallow in this blend, it takes it to a whole new level of awesome. I'm a sucker for a good marshmallow scent and this is definitely a good one. Winner winner! It's just pure creamy berry bakery goodness.
Creme Brulee Zucchini Cupcake - When I had originally ordered this scent, it was listed on the site as "Creme Brulee Cupcake" without the zucchini note. When I received my 1 lb. bag of this, I was a bit disappointed to see the zucchini note listed but upon first sniff of this scent, I was in love! Sugar and Spice was probably the first ZB scent that I actually liked as it is one of the most mellow and creamy zucchini scents I've smelled thus far. It's definitely still mainly a creme brulee scent but the little hint of breadiness helps this from becoming too sweet. Awesome blend!
Chocolate Butter Brickle Croissant - I have been insanely in love with both chocolate and butter brickle scents as of late and the two together in this blend is a home run! The chocolate croissant is a very unique chocolate bakery scent; it has a strong, almost boozy chocolate note mixed with a slightly buttery crust note. Blended with the butter brickle oil, it becomes this delicious confectionary delight that, yes, I have contemplated tasting because it smells so fantastic. I am going to request that she makes this in big bags of brittle next time she opens up her shop in the fall.
Lollipop Fluff Cake - I am head over heels for Sugar and Spice's Lollipops scent. If you've never smelled it before, you absolutely must. It is certainly a nostalgic scent that takes me back to my childhood as it kind of smells like those scented dolls I loved as a kid. It's basically the most realistic fruity candy scent ever. A few other vendors have this scent as well, but I wish more vendors would carry it because I would buy it from everyone. Lollipop Fluff Cake is a blend of Lollipop, marshmallow and cake fragrance oils. The lollipop definitely takes center stage in this blend but the marshmallow and cake notes amp up the sweetness and add the slightest hint of a bakery undertone. It is the ultimate sweet scent in every way. This is another one I'll be requesting in 1 lb. bags of brittle so I'll never be without it.
Peanut Butter Marshmallows - I've tried a few peanut butter scents from other vendors and they were all pretty underwhelming. I don't even really like peanut butter that much in real life, so when I saw this as a freebie in one of my orders, I figured I wouldn't like it before even opening the lid of the scent shot. However, it was true love upon first sniff. It is such a realistic peanut butter scent with the added creamy goodness from the marshmallow. So amazing! I'm looking forward to trying out different blends with this scent as well. I think it would be really fantastic blended with her Jelly Donuts scent!
Haley's Heavenly Scents
Raspberry Zinger - Haley's is another vendor I've really been loving lately. If you are in the HHS group on Facebook, you've probably seen me raving about this scent. Raspberry Zinger is a raspberry coconut cake scent, supposedly duping the now defunct (?) Hostess Raspberry Zinger cakes. I've seen this scent at several other vendors, and I don't know if HHS uses a different oil than all the others or just a higher concentration of the oil, but their version of this scent is absolutely phenomenal. Take any other raspberry coconut scent you've smelled before, amp it up 10 times, and you've got HHS Raspberry Zinger. During their recent 4th of July sale (wax ban be damned), I ordered a big bag of Raspberry Zinger on it's own and did two blends with the scent as well! I can't wait!
Strawberry Ice Cream Scoop Dough Bread - Although CFTKR will always have my favorite strawberry scent, HHS is nearing in at a close second these days. It's a strong, true strawberry scent with a slight tartness to it that adds a realistic aspect to the otherwise super sweet scent. Another recent favorite scent, as I mentioned above, is Ice Cream Scoop Bread scents. I'm OBSESSED with ice cream scents anyways so ICSB is an obvious win-win situation for me. The Ice Cream Scoop Bread note blends flawlessly with their strawberry oil to create one of the best strawberry bread scents I've come across.
Lemon Ice Cream Cake - All of HHS' lemon blends are flawless, really. If you watched my 45 minute long melted reviews video, you know I have a deep affection for her Iced Lemon Cookies scent as well. Lemon Ice Cream Cake is a new discovery in a recent order. It is a blend of lemon poppyseed and cake batter ice cream. So. Amazing. It's a bakery lemon scent (with no touch of the astringent, cleaner lemon that sometimes pops up in lemon pound cake scents) with the added creaminess from the ice cream scent. I actually blended this scent with Raspberry Zinger in my recent order and I can't wait to see how that turns out!
Candles from the Keeping Room
The "Jelly Donut" family - It's no secret that CFTKR's Jelly Donut scent is one of my favorite fragrances of all time. Recently, Carol has started coming up with these amazing Jelly Donut blends that she has been sending out as testers in people's orders. The first blend to be officially released was Jelly Filled Sugar Cookie, and you better believe I got myself a bag the day it came out! Other blends that she's done lately were Jelly Filled Zucchini Donut and Jelly Filled Flapjacks, both incredible blends. In fact, I melted the Jelly Filled Zucchini Donut sample that Carol had sent yesterday and I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY at how phenomenal it was. She's working on some other jelly donut blends as well that I'm super excited to try! In fact, Carol has been coming out with a TON of new scents lately that I can't wait to get my grubby little hands on.
Sugar Cookie and Flapjacks - I had a bag of this earlier this year and for some reason, I ended up selling in a destash. With my recent bakery obsession, I ended up regretting destashing it and bought myself another bag. Man oh MAN, I don't know how I could have ever let this bad boy go. At the very peak of my love for bakery is my love for sugar cookie scents. I just can't have enough cookie scents, I need them all! Carol's sugar cookie oil is one of the best, it is very, very sweet yet crunchy at the same time. Blended with her dough-y flapjacks scent (that, by the way, has the slightest hint of maple syrup) is one of the best bakery scents I have found thus far. Front Porch has apparently come out with a Sugar Cookie/Hotcakes blend recently and I can't wait to try that one as well to compare and contrast the two.
Fruit Cocktail - So even in the throes of my bakery-palooza, I've managed to find a new favorite fruity scent! Fruit Cocktail is a blend of peach, pears and cherries, just like the sweet canned fruit cocktail that is served in elementary school and at hospitals. It smells EXACTLY like opening a can of fruit cocktail, right down to the sweet syrup in which the fruit is suspended. Yes, it is a bit of an artificial fruit smell with that cherry note thrown in there but it is fabulous. This is what I wanted all those generic "fruit slices" scents to smell like. Luckily for my nose, I don't smell any citrus notes in here. Just the super sweet scent of cherries, pears and peaches. I'm so glad I stumbled across this scent.
"Strawberry" anything - As I mentioned above, Carol has the best strawberry scent in the business. It's a true strawberry that is sweet yet fresh all at the same time. All the strawberry blends are awesome as well, like Strawberry Noel, Strawberry Flapjacks, Strawberry Cookie, Pink Sugared Strawberry, and a new favorite, Strawberry Dew (strawberry mixed with Mountain Dew). Her strawberry generally sell out pretty quickly when they're listed, so you have to be fast! They're like Pokemon, you've gotta catch them all! Haha I think that's the first time I've ever made a Pokemon reference in my life. Anyway, moving right along...
Victoria's Designer Creations
Cotton Candy Milkshake - I believe I've reviewed this scent on my blog before but I recently received a loaf of this scent (my very first loaf ever!) and it's so darn good that it's worth mentioning again. This is probably one of the best, if not the very best, cotton candy scent I've ever smelled. It has an extra level of sweet, sugary goodness while still retaining that "cotton candy" scent that we've all grown accustomed to, whether it's from cotton candy flavored bubble gum or cotton candy scented body spray in the 90's. Best thing about this particular cotton candy scent is how unbelievably strong it is! Cotton candy scents are notoriously light, but not this one. I'm so glad I have a loaf in this scent because I will be melting this one in large quantities for sure.
Sniff My Tarts
Sugar Cookie Brulee/Deep Fried Ice Cream - This was a combo that I did in a scent shot in my second SMT custom order. It's so amazing that I'll probably never use it because I only have one scent shot in it! I'm kicking myself for not ordering this blend in chunks. This is the first time I've ever had the pleasure of smelling a Sugar Cookie Brulee scent but it certainly will not be my last. Sugar Cookie Brulee is an amazing, rich bakery scent that is mainly the "brulee" note of burnt sugar with a slight undertone of cookie crunchiness. Brilliant! I wish more vendors would carry this scent. And of course, blended with the deep fried ice cream scent it becomes even more amazing! Maybe one day I'll win a custom lot and be able to create this blend myself again. My second custom SMT had more duds in it than the first but this was definitely the standout of everything that I ordered.
Butter Brickle/Cotton Candy - Surprise, surprise a butter brickle and cotton candy blend! Shocking, I know. Though I'm not the hugest fan of the way they are doing chunks now (in individual molds as opposed to doing large batches and cutting them into chunks), the Butter Brickle/Cotton Candy blend that I received in my order really knocked it out of the park. The cotton candy was the overpour and the butter brickle was the chunks, so it was definitely a bit heavier on the cotton candy but still a really nice blend of the two. I don't know what it is about butter brickle and cotton candy, but they are just so darn fantastic together! By the way, if you've never smelled a butter brickle scent before, it's kind of like a super sweet candied caramel fragrance. Really rich and delicious smelling!
The Bathing Garden
Peppermint Bubbles - Though TBG hasn't really been knocking it out of the park for me lately, this blend is a new favorite among all the TBG scents I've ever tried. It almost has a frosty, cool quality to it that makes it stand out from all the other peppermint scents in my stash. It's a very sweet peppermint scent, blended with marshmallow, whipped cream and meringue. The sweet, fluffy notes in this scent give it an almost bakery-like quality without having it actually smell like a typical bakery scent. That probably makes no sense, but you'll just have to take my word for it. If sharp peppermint scents scare you, definitely give this one a try! I bet this scent would be amazing in a scrub as well.
Rosegirls
Taste the Rainbow - This scent was a surprise favorite for me. Though I didn't actually order it, I stumbled across a chunk of it in an RR and I knew I had to grab it. I've smelled one other Skittles inspired scent before from Dutch/Crabby Candle, and while that one is really nice, this one is like Skittles on steroids. I was weary about this blend when it was introduced to the RG lineup in April because it contains chunks of both satsuma and grape, two of my arch nemesis fragrances in the wax wax world. However, the grape and satsuma scents blended with key lime chunks and the Chicks Dig It overpour creates this completely awesome fruity blend that really smells like a bag of Skittles. On steroids.
Key Lime Swizzle Sticks - Rosegirls has the absolute best Key Lime Pie scent, bar none. It's such a realistic key lime scent, right down to the slight graham cracker crust note. I'm super picky about my lime scents but they're always a major win from RG. Their swizzle sticks scent is described as a sugary sweet glaze, which to me, smells a little bit like the above mentioned lollipop scent from other vendors. Together, the blend is flawless. I'm almost wishing I would have ordered a large pie in this scent instead of just a regular sized bag. But hey, now I have more room in my stash to try other key lime blends. And try them I will!
Pomegranate Watermelon Slush - This was another new scent that I got out of an RR that moved right up to the top of my favorites list. Pomegranate scents seem to be all the rage these days and this one is one of the best I've smelled thus far. The tart, berry-like pomegranate scent combines effortlessly with the super sweet watermelon slush scent to create a divine summer drink blend. I saw on one of my wax groups somewhere that someone wanted to pour some booze into this scent and drink it, and I wholeheartedly agree! Perfection.
Sweet Lemon Confection/Swizzle Sticks/Pomegranate (custom blend) - Someone in one of my wax groups did this blend and I had to borrow the idea and make a medium pie in it for myself. I did the pomegranate as the overpour which was an ideal decision because this scent smells like the absolute best pomegranate lemonade you'd ever taste in your life. Yes, it smells like the way it would taste. Thank you to whoever suggested this blend because my pomegranate-loving self would never have been the same without it!
Strawberry Jam/Sweet Lemon Confection/Monster Cookie (custom blend) - This was another custom blend that turned out even better than expected. First off, Rosegirls Strawberry Jam scent is one of the best out there, probably tied in second place with HHS' strawberry scent. When strawberry jam is blended here with the lemon bakery note and RG's famous Monster Cookie, it's truly a match made in heaven. This was actually a blend that Dana and I created to split a large pie in, and I'm so glad I have half a pie in this one because it's SO FREAKING AWESOME! I'm also a huge fan of RG's Strawberry Lemon Custard scent but I think I like this one a bit better because of the added bakery note here. As a rule of thumb, you can't really go wrong with any blends containing Strawberry Jam, Sweet Lemon Confection or Monster Cookie because they're all really top notch.
Pics, Petals and Scents
Vanilla Buttercream Waffle Cone - I recently got a long awaited (3+ months) custom order in from PPS, and while I generally liked everything in my order, the real standout of the whole lot was a freebie that she sent in Vanilla Buttercream Waffle Cone! I'm feeling a little burnt out on descriptions right now but I will say that the buttercream is the stronger note in this blend, but the waffle cone isn't far behind. Usually buttercream and waffle cone scents are very light but in this scent, they are strong as can be! Awesome, awesome, awesome!
Up the Creek Scents
Coco Mango/Pomegranate/Peach (custom blend) - Up the Creek is a new-ish vendor that has been all the rage in my Facebook groups lately. Their stuff is incredibly strong, well blended, and best of all - super inexpensive! I believe the 3 bags of custom blended brittle cost me somewhere in the ballpark of $15. Not to shabby! Anyways, this was obviously a custom blend of mine that really turned out well. I did make this blend before my aversion to peach scents began, but luckily I mostly smell the sweet Coco Mango scent blended with the tart pomegranate. I don't know what ever possessed me to make this blend, I mean, you've got to admit that it's kind of random, but these notes work really well together to create a really unique and awesome tropical fruity blend.
Pink Sugar/Sweet Orange and Chili Pepper (custom blend) - Usually I can't stand orange scents, but there is something about the sweet orange and chili pepper oil that I love. I've seen lots of Pink Sugar and orange scents so I figured these two would be great together and boy was I right! The sweet, perfume-y notes in Pink Sugar blend surprisingly well with the tart orange scent. After doing this blend, I've been dying to try other Pink Sugar/orange scents. Next on my list to try is CFTKR Pink Sugared Orange Juice. If you have any other favorite PS/orange blends, do let me know =)
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Well folks, that's all for now! I'm actually now finishing up this at home this evening as it took me a lot longer to write than I thought! I hope you all are having a great day and I'll see you all soon =)
